A Literary Atlas: Cal Neva

Cal Neva:

     I have to say that the Cal Neva was probably the most fun part of the trip and definitely the most interesting.

     I have to say that the Cal Neva is probably one of the smaller casinos I have ever been in and because of that it added a strange aura, not a bad aura, but a unique one. It seemed both friendly and sketchy at the same time, especially when we took this old elevator to the top floor. The staff there were very nice to us and even asked if we were there for a school project - evidently someone else got there before us. I can imagine The Girl (Allison) working in this place, she would fit in. 

     We were lucky enough to find our way to the Top Deck restaurant and look around a bit and for the most part I was able to imagine Allison doing her job here late at night. Even the history of the Cal Neva was interesting. They had little bits of information everywhere in the casino and it was cool being able to stop and read them and learn about the story behind the casino.

A Literary Atlas: Harold's Club

Harold's Club:

     The Harold's Club is the ending of the book and the beginning of Allison Johnson's new life but when we visited the place, I didn't feel anything special about it. It was just an empty square. So obviously the Harold's Club is no longer standing so I did a bit of background research into it to find as to where it used to stand. 

     The location wasn't anything too special, I mean it was right in front of the Reno Arch  but thats always been there. It might be that I am jaded from living here for so long and that these little tidbits don't excite me as much as someone else might be but whatever. Thinking about it, I do think it is cool that it's right in front of the arch because one could look at it in the sense that as one passes under the arch, we enter a new place and with the new place comes new experiences, hardships, friends, challenges, victories, etc. So maybe the location of the has-been Harold's Club is more instrumental to the development of Allison than we know/think. 

But, I don't know, I felt that the square where Harold's Club used to stand is just a sad, open, empty place now and it is not being used for anything.

A Literary Atlas: Bus Station

Bus Station:

     Throughout the book The Girl (Allison Johnson), uses the bus for transportation to and from places and even visits the actual bus station in Reno. While the bus station we visited was recently remodeled, it was still similar to the actual bus station The Girl was at.  

     It was a unique experience going to the bus station. I have never been on a public bus before and while some characters in the book say the bus system is for drunks and old ladies, I know several people that fall into neither of those categories that ride the buses. My friends say the buses are actually okay and not as bad  as some are led to believe. I think its just this idea we have that buses are dirty, gross, and a blight on society and yet we find a really nice bus station with really nice buses right here in Reno. 

A Literary Atlas: Eldarado

     So a pre-warning, the following blog post will be a bit lengthy but on the bright side they will contain photos ( YAAAAAAY ), so stick around. I am also putting these up right around the same time because I wanted them to be similar to like a chapter book. Anway....

Eldarado:

     More specifically the Eldarado Buffet. The Eldarado was our first stop on our little adventure. Once inside, we got slightly turned around and lost with a side of confusion but in the end we were able to make our way through the Eldarado and to the desert buffet The Girl in Willy Vlautin's North Line visited. 

Even though I am a local here in Reno, I very rarely visit the casinos and this experience was something interesting for me as I was trying to place my self in The Girl's shoes and I think I was close. I felt slightly overwhelmed by all the lights and people, it was PURE CHAOS, not really but it was fun to say that. I couldn't experience how she felt exactly because of everything that has happened to her before that but I could touch on how she felt in that moment. possibly touch on it. Its kind of hard to tell. 

      I think this is the right Buffet, it was the only one we could find and it did have a dessert bar but we're still not a 100% sure it was the same or not. Still, it was fun and interesting to visit/find the place and wander aimlessly through the Eldarado. 

The Unknown

     With such an unusual prompt I decided to talk about an unusual topic.

     I recently stumbled across a really fascinating quote that goes something like this: "There exists two possibilities; either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." This quote is by Arthur C. Clarke and it made me start thinking. Thinking about what another race/being/life form/species (I list here because I pause at what the correct term would be) would be like. Not only how different they would be - they could be - but more importantly, how similar they could be. I digress briefly here to return to the quote that sparked this thought.

     I stand behind the thought that there ARE other forms of life out there, other species, because the universe is infinitely huge and just by looking at the night sky , we see countless stars in the heavens and just like our star, the Sun, each could have several if not dozens of planets orbiting them. Some believe there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth and by the way things are looking, I think they're right. Now, if there are an infinitely large number of stars and each star has, on average 9 planets (like our solar system [Pluto is a planet, albeit a rather small planet]) then there would be an enormous sum of planets that intelligent life could  take place on. Now we also have to take into account the 'sweet spot' of planets - planets that are just the right distance from their sun so they are neither too hot or too cold, this makes it ideal for life to occur - this factor would greatly reduce the number of planets that satisfy the requirements for life but the number is still quiet huge. There ARE other life forms, we just haven't had contact with them yet.

     Of course this is just going off Carbon-based life forms that are extremely similar to us. Any variation, ANY, would vastly change the planets possible for them. But getting back to the point, how would are cultures be similar/different. Would they share the pursuit of knowledge that we experience? Would they have schools and places of learning. Maybe they would have a hive mind or knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation. Maybe they would experience colors differently then us or hearing. The possibilities are endless. Maybe their society would be a simple reflection of our own in almost every possible way. Just something to think about...

Link to the Historic Past

      SO our Mission (should we choose to accept) was to do some research about historic Reno and then do some in-person visitation along with some imaginary time travel. I decided to travel a little further than our other walks and visit the Court House, just past the river.

      Alright, history time! So the original courthouse was built in 1871-1873 in an attempt for Reno to take the County seat from Washoe City (20 miles south). In 1909, Frederic DeLongchamps redesigned the courthouse and built it how it is today (same thing as over 100 years ago). DeLongchamps used a type classical revival and Beaux art influence that is seen in a majority of legal buildings all across the nation.

     When I arrived on the spot, I visioned what it would be like 100 years ago in this spot, and like most people, I imagined the Wild West, which I realized is probably too far back so I imaginarily fast-forwarded to 1912. The area was more built up, less horse and more buildings; I had to see the area differently, what it would have been 100 years ago and yet this building in front of me would have still been here, probably looking really close to what it looks like today. Certain things would have been the same as they are now, the bridge over the river, several of the really old hotels and casinos, but I think the roads would be almost exactly the same, well all the main roads that is. It was truly fascinating to think that the building right in front of me had been there for close to 100 years (waaaaaay older than I am, easily). It changed my perspective; made me think and realize that we have tons of historic things around in Reno and everyone takes them for granted. We never really appreciate what we have, probably because we don't take the time to learn about them. But if we did, I am sure others would be just as impressed as I am about our history.

The Structure of the Neighborhood

     So this prompt was in consider the architecture in our neighborhood. Since the majority of us live on campus we have a mixture of two different types of architecture, casino/gambling and university, but its a bit more deep than just that, because each of those categories is made up of several different groups of past architecture.
   
     I'll start with the architecture of the university. First, I thought about the architecture of our university and then I started noticing patterns between our current university architecture as well as the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome - which is to be expected because that is what we think about when prompted with questions of philosophy and higher thinking. This effort to strive to be like the great philosophers of old has leeched into everything about our campus, the buildings, the way professors teach, maybe even into home we structure our day. It's all been done before in the time of Aristotle and Socrates. The architecture of our neighborhood is just a modern reflection of ancient Greece.

     The other hand being the Casino's and their architecture. I thought the casino's architecture slightly difficult to understand. Each on is different and yet same in some way. They're all unique and all similar. Its weird because where the university pulled some design from The Ancients, casinos usually set up a theme and pull from that, take The Atlantis for example. One thing they do all have in common though is usually their height; huge structure that tower over the other settlements nearby, minus other casinos that is. Well, all the big name brand casinos that is. I suppose a lot of the casinos pull from the average architecture of a skyscraper and then just make the first couple of floors all casino-y and tourist attractions.

     The way these separate types of architecture reflect our town and neighborhood is an interesting one, especially because of the close proximity to each other. I would have to say that these two architectures are two sides of the same coin. They are both similar but opposite. One is the knowledge we strive to achieve and the other is an escape from past troubles, also a place to pretty much throw money away. It is interesting that these things come together in such a close space they way they do

Houseless but not Homeless

     So our prompt was to retake one of our previous walks but look specifically for difference between homelessness and houselessness.

      While walking the streets we did see many houseless people and it was a bit weird in the sense because I didn't notice it before but they tended to be nicer than the people walking around on the streets. Some greeted us while others nodded and didn't say anything at all, but overall they were nicer than other people we ran across on the walk.

     The other people, those that are homeless in the sense that they are not connected to the community, were very rude to us and others around them. Some completely ignored us to the point of us having to walk way out of our way to get around them, some would yell back and forth to each other (and not nice things either), but in general they always had some place to be and not a lot of time to get there. They were zipping around going from point A to point B without really experiencing the in between.

     For the Honors program, we are required to do X amount of community service and my volunteer location is Good Shepard's Clothing Closet. While I am there I do see a lot of houseless people there but reflecting back on my experience, I don't think any of them are homeless because they have found a way to connect to the community. They are connected through GSCC even if they don't mean it and I am sure they are connected in more ways than just that. Whereas, the homeless people, who do have homes but are not involved in the community, lack in this sense of connectedness. They aren't truly experiencing everything Reno has to offer, or if they are they aren't really getting what they should from it.

Lesson learned: be connected to the community you are a part of.

A Little Down on my Luck

     Unfortunately, I was unable to meet up with a group like last time, so I had to do this walk on my own time with friends not in my English class. While the walk was still fun, I didn't get to see the expressions of the students from out of town since all my friends were locals, like me.

     Just like on the river walk, I tried to see the casino district in a new light, a new point of view, and how I am a part of it. It was actually pretty cool because as I was coming back, the sun was setting and I got to see the casino lights illuminate the twilight. Spectacular. While, downtown Reno is a bit dirty and everything, it is based off gambling and the casinos around here do a good job at trying to pull people in. These casinos aren't as impressive as the Peppermill or the Atlantis, but they are impressive now the less. It made me wonder how gambling really took root. I get that it started kind of small like cards in a saloon, and I get where it is now, the massive buildings with the flashing lights and themes from Ancient Rome to a future with flying cars, but what happened in between? How did it get to be so big? Maybe it was the gold rush or the Comstock Load that industrialized gambling just the same as steel and coal industrialized the world. Maybe it was the get-rich-quick schemes that made people think anyone could be a winner. Maybe its simply because Nevada is a desert and there was nothing else to do than mine and gamble.

     But back to me. How am I a part of this whole thing? I suppose that my future I could be working at one of these casinos, programming the slots or rigging the odds. Or my future could take me miles from here and somehow my experience with these huge, flashing buildings will be of some use to me there. I can't really tell yet. Could I be connected now? Has been exposed to gamble jaded me in a sense? Or has it made me prone to gambling? I don't really know but I think its more jaded than prone at the current moment.

      Gambling is part of Reno and I am part of Reno as well. Just like me, casinos are here in the community and they have created it just as I can change it. We share a common space with them and we have to accept it. At this point there is little we can do about it but maybe in the future...

Walking by the River

     Question purposed: Is the river walk worth the money? Answer: I believe so. Even though the walk is slightly sketchy in the sense of unfamiliar people EVERYWHERE, it really isn't that bad when you're with others. It was actually really fun going down to the river with half our class. Bonds were formed and I felt everyone got along very well. Bonding experience!

     What did I see? It was actually really cool walking downtown with everyone and kind of seeing the town in new eyes. Even though I'm from here and I see downtown on a somewhat regular basis, when I went down with the class it was like seeing it with fresh eyes. I had to actually experience the place and not take it from granted. We saw wedding chapels, casinos, bars, a movie theater, coffee shops, and even a guy kayaking on the river.

     I think the river represents the clean part of our town. The constantly flowing river seems to wash the scum away from the dirty casinos and the filth from downtown. It was a refreshing feeling to escape the clutter of downtown and to experience nature in the heart of town.

     As for my role, I believe it as a scholar since I am connected to the town through the university now. I feel as if the town sees me as a student but also as a scholar with a bright future.

Yay exercise!

In the Eyes of Perspective

     First, I want to start off by saying that it is really bright outside around 1:00 in the afternoon. I then want to follow it up by saying there are not a lot of people around campus at 1:00. It was actually kind of peaceful doing my walk around this time partially because of the lack of people but also partly from the setting. It seemed to be the perfect scene for what you would see on a university's website. In retrospect, I probably should have taken pictures and then posted them up here for everyone to see. Sorry everyone. 
   
     So perspective...Besides there being different lighting I suppose I did get to see the campus in a fresh perspective, a new viewpoint. I always try to see things differently and open my mind to new ideas. It's actually really refreshing. Anyways, I think this prompt is kind of hard to write about. I hope everyone else had an easier time than I did.

The Movement of Motion

     Ok, well here's another attempt at a cool and witty title, personally I think its quite clever.

     Anyways, I'm going to continue on with my blogging and try to stay mostly on prompt...hopefully. So the prompt is about transportation and how we use it, how we are affected by it and what we think about it. The first question prompted to us is how I get around. This is simple, I use my feet and legs. Okay! moving onto my next question, what obstacles do I face. Sliding into a more serious gear, I believe that we all face obstacles in our daily lives and we need to overcome them. Personally I face obstacles like walls, streets and buildings when I am out walking. Each of these things are obstacles in my path and each one I must overcome...or walk around.

     I suppose I have many different types of transportation available to me even if I don't use it. I have the campus shuttle, the public bus, my car, my feet. Each at my disposal and yet I choose not to use them. I have a bike and yet I didn't  bring it. I ENJOY walking around. There is so much to see and we don't really see it when we go speeding by in our cars traveling 16 meters per second. I've never really rode on public transit so I can't say what needs to be improved but I guess it could.

Ta ta for now

The Presence of the Consumer

     So I tried coming of with something cool and witty at the same time, you know, something other than "Walking Journal #X" where X is the prompt number we're working on. Anyways, since this prompt was about advertisement and its presence around campus, I felt this was an adequate title for this blog. Just a warning though, don't expect me to be this witty and clever all the time.

     Now, on to the prompt. We were asked to consider the role of advertising as well as where we encounter them and what effects they may have on our views of the community/neighborhood; but you already know that don't you? To start off, I want to say that it was fun to look for something that we tend to over look. We had to observe and not just see. Advertisements are everywhere but we tend to just filter them out, ignore them, but we still find ourselves noticing them subconsciously. Actively looking for these kind of turned into a life-sized game of I Spy and turned out to be very fun.

     There are fliers, posters, ads, EVERYWHERE. Just leaving my dorm I must have passed at least 20. Most of them did reflected our neighborhood. There were posters about Bill Nye, the science fair, election posters (for those not in the Nevada LLC there is an election...correction, there was an election for Student Council positions coming up), food places as well as other random fliers for something to check out. Overall, most of these advertisements knew their audience (us) and posted where they knew we would see them. One can't even leave the elevators without see the bulletin boards covered in advertisements. Which brings me to mention Humans vs. Zombies, the poster looked pretty cool, couldn't make the meeting but I was informed by a friend that it sounds fun.

     Anyways, I think the advertisements around campus are mainly focusing on getting us involved in the community here at UNR. You know, make us one of them...or would it be make us many of them? Something to wonder about.

Journal #3

     After browsing everyone else's blogs and journal posts, I have come to the conclusion that I need to think of better titles for my posts. Good job to everyone who thought of clever title for their posts, you've done good.

     This prompt really made me rethink my route. Instead of my usual route up to the Joe and around the Quad, I decided to focus more around the dorms and the people that interact around them. Leaving my room and progressing down the wing, it came to mind that the very floor I live on is segregated by male and female, mostly because the other wing is WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) with the keyword being "Women" where as my wing is the Engineering wing and is predominately male. While we do share a floor together, there isn't very much mingling between the groups, well yet, I think the lines will blur with time. I don't think we have been here long enough to personalize our spaces into a framework of male/female only spaces but given adequate time we might see a morph in the personal spaces as well as the wings in the dorm.

     Continuing my walk, I began to notice a connection between the ability of mobility and a sense of what is personalized. The students that don't have a direct connection to the dorm, like some of us, seem to have a lack of what is personalized. They don't feel as connected as I might since I live on campus and am more directly involved with school stuffs. Now I'm not saying that students that don't live on campus aren't involved or are disconnected, I just feel that they seemed more distant while observing them today.

     I feel I should write some sort of catchy and witty conclusion here but I'm not really sure how to do that. Either way I need to wrap this up and look forward to seeing my classmates in class.

Walking Journal #2

          As I mulled about the campus late Saturday evening, I contemplated about how I am involved in this place. I am involved, obviously through school and through classes but I feel I am connected more than just that. I am connected, I suppose, in spirit with this place. When everyone was excited for the game, I too was excited and when we lost in the last 30 seconds, everyone felt the effects. I reflect now upon these emotions and come to the conclusion that I don't really get worked up about things like this; maybe being in the epicenter of such an event, of being so connected to this place, I leeched the energy off those around me and made it my own, which I then gave back to the community. I also feel connected to the random people I pass walking around campus and I think this is because we are here, we are tied to this location, in a sense, we are neighbors.
       
          I don't really think I make a physical place for anyone really. More of a emotional or mental place. A place where people want to be, a place for my friends to fit in, to feel welcome. We are this tightly knit group of people but we always welcome more into our folds, I suppose this sounds a bit cliche but I think it works well. It feels right to say it that way.

         As for politics, I'm not really sure where I stand or how the system is set up. Obviously there's politics like the one during the game. Us versus Them, but its not always so clear cut. There are all these groups and clubs and circles that are all intertwined and connected in many different ways. Some are obvious connections while others are more subtle. One can never always tell.

        I near the end of my walk and it leaves me with a sense of belonging and pride. I am happy to be here and be apart of what UNR stands for. We are the Wolf Pack.

Walking Journal #1

                Neighborhood: A district, esp. one forming a community within a town or city. But the question is how I define neighborhood; I suppose I define a neighborhood by the people and places in the vicinity. Since I live in the dorms my neighborhood would be the campus and the people within it. My neighborhood is a mixture of locations and landmarks. I feel safe within my neighborhood because I am familiar with it as well as know that it is a relatively safe place. Looking around campus I often see bicycles which helps define my neighborhood and makes me feel at home even though I, myself, do not bike.

          How do I determine my route? Well between classes, and usually normally, I just take the fastest route between point A and B. Sometimes I go out of my way to find my fellow class men for social interactions and healthy exchanging of information. So my routes actually come down where my friends are at a given moment but also in quickness between the two points.

         My impressions of my neighborhood are mostly positive ones. This place makes me want to learn more and it provides a secure environment to enhance my learning. I feel apart of the place and not like an observer simply standing outside looking into the fishbowl. This community is a part of me and because of this, I am a part of the community. 

Cheers,
Brian